The long arm of the law finally caught up with the alleged finance officer of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub in Bamban, Tarlac after a months-spanning cat-and-mouse game with authorities.
Pan Meishu, alias “Hannah,” who supposedly led financial operations at Zun Yuan Technology (formerly Hongsheng Gaming Technology), was arrested by combined elements of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), Bureau of Immigration (BI), and the Armed Forces of the Philippines as she was dining at a hotpot restaurant in Pasay City on Thursday.
BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado on Friday hailed the Chinese national’s arrest, saying the operation is just one of many targeting illegal aliens working at scam hubs.
“These companies doing illegal activities have no place in the country,” said Viado.
“Expect more arrests as we crack down on illegal POGO operations,” he added.
Viado said that the suspect will remain in the custody of the BI while undergoing deportation proceedings.
Meanwhile, PAOCC Executive Director Gilbert Cruz said Pan potentially faces human trafficking and money laundering charges, similar to those filed against dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo.
He noted that Pan worked directly with Walter Wong Long, a co-accused of Guo.
“Let’s see what cases we will file against her [Pan]. Although we already know that she is truly a part of Alice Guo’s circle,” Cruz said in Filipino.
He also described her as a “top-level” POGO executive.
In March, lawmen enforced a search warrant on Zun Yuan Technology’s offices at the Baofu Compound in Bamban in response to reports of human trafficking and various online scamming activities.
However, Pan managed to evade arrest and subsequently went into hiding.
“Through documents we recovered from their vehicles [during the Baofu raid], we discovered the name she was using inside the Bamban POGO hub. So, we are also studying whether her offenses fall under qualified trafficking,” the PAOCC official added.
As this developed, Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon confirmed that a Pasig court denied the petition for bail Guo and her co-accused in connection with the qualified trafficking cases they are facing due to the strength of the evidence against them.
Guo and her alleged cohorts are accused of violating the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, as amended by the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012 and the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2022.
The complaints were filed after over 800 Filipinos and foreigners were rescued from the Bamban POGO hub.
Guo denied allegations that she facilitated the entry of POGOs into the Tarlac municipality and that she was a Chinese spy.
On top of those, the dismissed mayor also faces a graft case before a Valenzuela court and a material misrepresentation case before a Tarlac court.
She is currently detained at the Pasig City Jail Female Dormitory.